Signals. The newborn child trusts his gut feeling and "tells" us when something is wrong. It is not always easy to know what, but the child is clearly signaling in any case. Slowly but surely, the child's gut feeling breaks down and he adapts to what is expected - more or less successfully depending on various factors. As we live today, we actually learn not to listen to signals. Neither on our own nor on others. Whether or not we can adapt to that concept varies – but if you ask me one thing is for sure: we would all be given the opportunity to listen to our cues, trust our gut and be okay with our feelings; then the world could not have looked the way it does.
The system we built (how things are organized, school etc) comes from the idea that everyone can do exactly the same thing every day and function and feel good about it. That is (of course!) not the case. The system (if we call it that) doesn't want us to listen. Neither on ourselves nor on our children. It could have made the shortcomings visible and forced something new. (The fear of it isn't strange in itself! We're people of habit and afraid of the unknown. I guess it's pure programming and maybe instinct?)
I don't know what you think, but I want to be a part of the new thing anyway! Such small little seeds that contribute to everyone's well-being coming before "one size fits all" and all the crap (quite literally) that comes with it.
Listen to the signals, yours and others'. As long as we learn from the start to adapt to a ready-made template, listening is perhaps a rebellious act. Be the rebel then! (Our kids are worth that fight, right?!)